The photodissociation of a molecule, upon absorption of photons of wavelength within the absorption spectrum of the molecule, can often lead to the formation of different sets of products, according to the dissociative chemical pathway adopted by the molecule. For successful industrial and commercial practice of such processes, the exercise of control over the dissociative pathway, so as to maximize the yield of desired product, becomes important. With the advent of laser radiation, with its highly specific radiation frequencies, it was believed that it would be possible to exercise control over photodissociation processes by using lasers of a specific frequency or energy carefully matched to bond breaking energies required for the photodissociation to follow a prescribed pathway to yield the desired product. In practice, however, it is found that such methods are of very limited success, one reason being that the laser energy which is supplied often dissipates rapidly throughout the target molecule, and does not concentrate in the specific bond or bonds which one wishes to break.